As the Skies Burn
by BrokenSky49
Summary: Karen is finally dead. However, in Hal's mind, she is very much alive. As he tries to cope with the nightmares that are slowly breaking him down, the Volm finally show their true colors, revealing how far they are willing to go to win this war. Now with a deadline set, the pressure to drive out the aliens has never been higher. Can they succeed? Or will the skies burn them?
1. Dreams and Reality

**Hey everyone! This story is set after the season 3 finale, so it's AU from then on.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own Falling Skies or its characters. There would be many more seasons if I did.**

**Hope you enjoy! Reviews, as usual, are always appreciated!**

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Chapter 1

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He barely registered it when the bullet ripped through his abdomen. The sight in front of him was more shocking than the pain.

He stood in place, staring directly ahead of him, at Karen, who was supposed to be dead. Karen, who he had watched die. Karen, who had used him and played with his head in so many ways. Karen, who was not the girl he'd dated so long ago. Karen, who was taken by the Espheni when it could have been him.

It could have so easily been him.

But it wasn't, and he'll never understand why.

People didn't truly realize why Karen was such a difficult topic for him. Some thought they did. Yes, he dated Karen. He really liked her. So naturally, he was upset that she was taken. But it was more than that.

It could have been him. That brainwashed, shell of a human being could have been him.

Maybe he never truly gave up on her because he hoped that no one would have given up on him. He hoped that someone, somewhere, would try to get the old him back.

Karen didn't have that hope, besides Hal. So he tried. He tried for as long as he could, but he could only try for so long.

His Karen wasn't coming back.

But he saw the girl in front of him, a gun in her hand, and he knew that was her. This was the real her. The real Karen. His Karen.

And she had shot him.

He was on the ground now, lying on his back. His stomach was bleeding, but he still couldn't feel it. She walked up to him and knelt down. Lowering her head, she stared into his eyes. He felt like vomiting.

Her voice was low, quiet. "You left me, Hal." She said. "You let her kill me, when you could have saved me." She got up. "You could have saved me!" She screamed at him, anger dripping from her voice. "You killed me, Hal! You. Gave. Up!" The gun was being pointed at him again, this time at his head. "Now you will now what it feels like to be betrayed." She pulled the trigger.

His head jerked back, and he saw no more.

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Hal woke up in a cold sweat wanting nothing more than to retch, the feeling of pure panic still playing at his gut. Running from his tent, he reached the edge of the camp site and dry-heaved. It was still dark, and only Tector and Maggie were up. They sat together on the other side of camp for night watch, and if they'd heard Hal, they didn't show it.

Hal sighed. He wanted nothing more than to talk to Maggie about the dreams he'd been having, but ever since the incident with Karen four weeks ago, they hadn't been getting along.

And for four weeks, Hal had been having nightmares. Even in death, Karen still haunted his dreams.

They were different than the others, the one's he'd had with the eye bug. In the others, Karen was using him, telling him how much she loved him, telling him to betray the Second Mass and Charleston. But in these nightmares, she was killing him, and if they continued, that's exactly what they would do.

These dreams were slowly bringing him down. He hadn't had a proper nights sleep in ages, and it was starting to take its toll on his body. He was nodding off during watch, and during patrols he would get distracted. He was becoming a danger to those around him. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if his carelessness got someone hurt, or worse.

Taking a swig of water from his bottle, he decided to talk to Anne in the morning about getting some sleeping pills. They should work. However, there was no way he would be getting any sleep now. Taking a deep breath, he made his way over to Maggie.

She got up from her spot. "Hal."

"Hey Maggie." He cleared his throat. "Ah, I couldn't sleep, so I could take over your post, if you want."

"I'm fine, Hal."

"Look, if you say no, I'm just gonna ask Tector, and I know he'll say yes, so this is your last offer to get some sleep before everyone wakes up." He stared at her.

Maggie paused. "Fine. I'll tell Tector you're taking over." She walked passed him without a second glance.

Hal sat down on a large rock and stared into the trees, his ears and eyes more attentive than they'd been in weeks. Maybe it was the air, or the clear night, or the nightmare, but for some reason, he was more awake than he had been in a long time.

He glanced up at the sky, where the stars twinkled brightly. The moon was full and bright, casting a light glow on his surroundings. He brought his eyes back down to the trees in front of him, but quickly glanced back up, noticing something that looked wrong.

His eyes widened when he realized what it was.

The moon.

It was on fire.


	2. What the Moon Brings

**Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows! Here is the next chapter! **

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The moon was a bright orange, obvious flames flickering against the night sky. It was certainly an odd sight, but it was also disconcerting. How was it even possible? He had to show his dad.

Quickly running to his dad's tent, he wasted no time. "Dad, there's something outside you need to see." He shook him awake.

"Hal? What is it?" Tom woke up from his slumber quickly, having trained himself long ago to become alert after sleeping. Untangling himself from Anne's arms, he got up, making sure not to wake up Anne or Alexis. "We're not being attacked." He observed the silence of the rest of the camp. "What's up?"

"You need to see this." Hal pointed at the sky when Tom walked out of the tent.

The moon.

"What the hell?" Tom stared at it, puzzled. "Is that even physically possible?"

Hal shrugged. "Beats me. We've gotta show this to Weaver. And Ben. Maybe he can ask the rebel skitters about it."

"Yeah. You wake up Weaver. I'll get your brother."

Hal ran off to Weaver's tent as Tom went to the tent next to his, where Matt and Ben were sleeping. He hated waking Ben up; he barely slept anymore, but he knew that he needed to see this.

"Ben." He spoke gently, not wanting to wake up Matt.

Ben was up immediately. "Dad, something's going on."

"What is it?" Matt's eyes opened up slowly, his voice groggy. "Is something happening? Are we moving?"

Although Tom didn't really want to get his youngest son involved, he knew it was too late to keep him out of the loop. "No, come on you guys. I need you to see this." He guided them out of the small tent and pointed to the moon.

"The moon's on fire?" Matt asked, his eyes squinted at the odd sight.

After staring for a moment, Ben merely nodded. "The rebel skitters said something like this might happen."

Tom stared at him. "What? Ben, why didn't you tell us?" He shook his head in disbelief.

"Well, they didn't really, they just said that strange things might start happening, now that the Volm are here."

"So this is the Volm's doing?"

"I think so." He answered, when his spikes suddenly began to glow. A skitter appeared from the forest, a stone's throw away.

"Hey, what's he doing here?" Weaver was walking towards them, Hal not far behind, as was Tector.

"Sir, what do you want me to do?"

"Stay at your post, Tector. I don't want these fish heads gaining the upper hand just because we got distracted by a burning moon." He shook his head. "I can't believe I actually had to say something like that. Burning moon. Just when I thought it couldn't get any crazier." He muttered. He turned his attention back to the skitter. "You, what are you doing here?"

The skitter began speaking through Ben. "Tom Mason is right. This is the doing of the Volm."

Hal raised an eyebrow. "The Volm? Really? Why would they do this?"

Ben sighed. "The moon is one of the few neutral zones between the different planets. They are burning it through an oxygen field to send a message to the Espheni."

"Oh yeah? And what is that message supposed to say?" Weaver asked.

"That they are willing to destroy everything if it means they destroy the Espheni in the process."

The four of them stood there silently, taking in this news.

"So, the Volm are willing to destroy. You mean our planet?" Tom finally said, feeling bewildered. He trusted the Volm. He trusted Cochise. How could they betray them like this? It didn't make any sense.

"Sadly, yes." Ben tilted his head. "The Volm have been trying to win this war for years. Although they try to protect the native species of other planets, they don't always succeed. They have resorted to relocation to Brazil, have they not?"

Tom hesitated before nodding. "Yeah, they have."

Ben nodded. "If that relocation does not work, they will resort to outer planetary evacuation. Then they will destroy the planet."

No, this couldn't be. The Volm couldn't possibly try to destroy their planet, could they? "Have they done this tactic before?" Weaver said.

Once again, Ben nodded. "Yes. Several planets have been destroyed do to the Volms' attempts at wiping out the Espheni. Although this tactic proves useful in wiping out Espheni members, the repercussions can be far worse."

"Repercussion, what repercussions?" said Tom.

"They are not always able to evacuate all members of the native species."

The statement sent chills down Weaver's spine. "So you're saying that they've killed people. Innocents. For the sake of their war." He shook his head.

"Yes. Millions. And it will happen to this planet if you do not succeed in bringing down the Espheni before they begin the evacuation."

"And when would that be?" Weaver asked.

"The time could range between two and three months. But the Volm, when angered, can be unpredictable. I would not count on that deadline."

Running a hand through his hair, Tom lowered his head, feeling defeated already. "So now we have a deadline to win the war." He sighed.

"Do- do you think we could win?" Matt spoke up, not feeling all that hopeful.

Ben hesitated before he spoke. "I believe that humans have gained a large advantage over the Espheni, and if things keep going in the right direction, you _might_ have a chance." The information did not offer much comfort to the small group. "I encourage you to keep fighting, and we will provide any back up that we can." The skitter next to Ben looked at each of them individually. "I will see what other information I can get from my superiors." With that, the spikes on Ben's back stopped glowing, and the skitter left them standing there, dumbfounded.

"Well," Ben spoke up, back to his usual self, "now we _have_ to win this war. It's up to us to save the planet."

"Hasn't it always been?" Hal shrugged, then yawned.

"Well folks, I'm going to get some shut eye while I still can. Now that I know that this moon thing doesn't give any immediate threat, I suggest that you all do the same." He looked at them sternly and went back to his tent.

"I took Maggie's shift, so I'm just gonna go..." Hal trailed off, the effects of the most recent nightmare catching up with him. However, he still dreaded the terror that sleep brought, and would have done anything to stay up. He started walking back to his post when his dad stopped him.

"Hey, Hal." Tom looked into his son's eyes. "Is everything okay? You've been kind of off, lately."

"Yeah, Dad. Everything's fine." Hal lied smoothly.

"Really? 'Cause you know you can tell me if you want."

For some reason, Hal just snapped at that comment. "Oh really? Because I tried telling you last time, and that didn't work out too well, now did it?"

Tom stood there, guilt washing over him as well as shock. The first time Hal had tried telling him that something was wrong, he had asked him to wait, and that brought on terrible consequences. Tom still felt guilty about it, but he didn't know his son still held this resentment. "Look, Hal-"

"No, Dad. I'm sorry. I know you feel bad about that. I just haven't been sleeping well. That's all. I'm sorry."

"All right then." He paused. "Well, why don't you try to get some sleep. I'll take over from here."

"Dad-"

"Hal, I insist. You need sleep. I've seen how tired you've been. You're health is still a priority to me, so sleep."

Dread seeped into Hal's stomach, knowing that sleep would only bring him more dread. But his dad was stubborn, and he knew that the only way to get him off his back was to listen. "Fine. Goodnight, Dad."

"Night, Hal."

Gulping, he went back to his tent and laid down on his sleeping bag. He tried to stay awake, but his body's desires won, and he closed his eyes and became dead to the world.

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Much to Hal's surprise, the terror of a nightmare was not what woke him up the next morning; it was the sound of gunfire.

Mechs and skitters surrounded the camp. A fish head was standing off to the side, watching the fight as if it were some type of entertainment. Hal spotted Ben and Matt fighting two skitters side by side, and Tom was with Anne, defending Anne and Lexi. He frantically searched for Maggie, praying that nothing happened to her. He sighed in relief when he saw her with Pope, hiding behind one of the cars and creating some sort of weapon. Maggie threw whatever it was at a nearby Mech, and she cheered as she watched it explode into pieces.

Hal grinned and was about to join in on the fight when a skitter dropped in front of him. However, instead of attacking him, it stood there and stared at Hal. Suddenly feeling exhausted, he dropped to his knees, dizzy. Black spots creeped into his vision and he felt like vomiting. He fell onto his back as the skitter came closer. However, he took more notice to the figure that was approaching him out of the corner of his eye.

No, it couldn't be her. She was dead.

"Hello, Hal." She finally reached him as she stood next to the skitter. "If you come with us, we will stop killing your people." She looked back towards the rest of the group. Anthony was on the ground; Hal could not tell if he was alive. Jeanne was sitting next to Weaver, defending him against a skitter. A few other bodies scattered the ground. "You can stop this."

"Hal!" He turned his head at his brother's voice. "What are you doing?" Ben shouted at him and started running towards him.

"I-" His breath hitched as Karen faded away, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Finally, he gave in to the overwhelming exhaustion and let the world go blank.

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**Dun, dun, dun. What did you guys think? Was it what you expected? Do you like the fact that they now have a deadline to win against the Espheni? And what do you think is happening with Hal?**

**Part of this, I admit, is inspired by the upcoming fourth season, where they have briefly shown a burning moon. I suppose this fic is my take on where they could go with it. And the whole "moon is neutral ground" thing? Yeah, that's totally a Doctor Who reference. Shout out to anyone who caught it.**

**Also, I can't wait for the new season starting on Sunday! Although I did see the first episode already. I can't believe it's available online already! Did anyone else see it? The scene at the end with the fight was inspired by what happened in the first episode, sort of.**

**If you would like to, leave a review so I know if you like it or if I should continue/go a different route. :)**


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